Love In A Trashcan
by Problem Child1
Summary: Rory gets a dose of much needed reality. One shot


Disclaimer: Amy and Daniel Palladino, along with the rest of the WB, own Gilmore Girls. I'm just borrowing the characters. The Ravonettes own "Love In A Trashcan."

A/N: This is a dark story. It's also extremely short. It probably sounds as though it would revolve around Rory, which it does in a roundabout way, but she's not in. She doesn't have any lines, at least. And I wrote it before the season premiere, so this is going to differ greatly. It's basically what _Gilmore Girls_ would be if there were any reality to it.

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He watched her sleep, as he always did. She was pretty with her hair messy and sprayed out across the pillow. He occasionally wondered who had corrupted her first, because she was a halfway decent screw. It couldn't have been Logan – he hated virgins – but she wouldn't tell. A secret that would die with her, and her first, he supposed.

He pulled on his pants and kissed her on the forehead before leaving. It was a muggy night, so much so that he could walk home without a shirt. His dad's house was a five minute walk from the Gilmore residence, and at three-thirty in the morning no one would question him.

He lit a cigarette and thought about their situation. Logan was screwing around, both literally and figuratively, so Finn took it upon himself to even the score. It only seemed fair, even if Rory had no idea about her boyfriend's indiscretions. It was deliciously fun to get her all worked up when they had parties together.

He almost laughed out loud as the thought about the guilt eating her up inside; it was as if she actually thought Logan would care. Poor, deluded girl. He wouldn't, not if it was Finn. Besides, he was only in this "monogamous" relationship because Rory thought he wouldn't do it, and above all things Logan loved a challenge. She was so naïve it was sickening. She also seemed to be under the impression that because of said naïvety, men would just fall at her feet in worship of her innocence. This time he did laugh out loud at the thought, the sharp bark echoing throughout the darkened street.

She was good for a quick shag, and that was all. He knew her guilt would go away eventually, but for now he knew how to make it temporarily disappear. It was a simple trick, one he'd perfected at the age of sixteen: a kiss. It just took one; he knew how much one kiss could affect one person. It made everything else feel trivial in comparison. Peggy Lee summed it up best with her song "Fever." One kiss and she melted. All qualms and worries left her body.

It wasn't a bad thing he was doing; on the contrary, he was doing this for Rory. If she ever found out about Logan, she'd be devastated and begging for him. He knew how irrational she could be when she was upset. He wasn't doing this to be mean, either. He was just having fun, which was all he ever wanted. He was just avenging Rory in the most pleasurable way he knew how. It wasn't as if Logan would care.

"Penny for your thoughts," a new voice interrupted.

"Colin!" Finn cried jovially, stubbing out his cigarette.

"You know, after you get paid and thrown out of the car, you are allowed to keep your shirt, unless you got paid extra for them to keep it."

"Funny. Out for a midnight stroll? Looting?"

"Try rendezvous."

"Juliet?" Finn guessed.

"Climbed up her balcony and everything." Colin smirked. "Just call me Romeo."

"Okay, Romeo, where are you going now? I was under the impression that your house was on the other side of town, unless it got moved in the last twelve hours."

"Thanks for the geography lesson, Rand McNally. I was actually thinking about your house."

"Well, my house is very nice, so it's no wonder you were thinking about it. Is it the atrium or the waterfall that does it for you?"

"I have a question for you, Finn."

"Oh, I have a don't ask, don't tell policy."

"Since when?"

"Tonight."

"Is that so?"

"True story."

"I had no idea you liked the Village People that much. But seriously, where were you tonight?" Colin bit back a smirk, already knowing the answer to the question. "Screwing a certain friend's girlfriend?"

"Colin!" Finn hissed in mock outrage. "I am shocked and appalled that you would even insinuate that I, an upstanding young man, would have sex with my best friend's girlfriend!"

Colin laughed. "You do know how little Logan cares, correct? He's busy with that tart from Belgium."

"I figured the amount he cared would be the equivalent of nothing. For curiosity's sake, how did dear Logan find out?"

"I think walking in on the two of you making out may have tipped him off, but I can't be quite certain at this point."

"I thought someone walked in that one time."

Colin nodded. "How is she?"

Finn shrugged. "Better than some, worse than some. Remember what Billy Bob said about Angelina? She's the couch with feelings." He paused. "And a good set of lungs."

Colin laughed. "That bad, huh?"

"I wouldn't call it 'bad,' just inexperienced."

"You think that everyone's inexperienced."

"And they all are."

It was quite for a while as they just walked. Finn's house was in sight when Colin asked, "Why her?"

"I'm not sure."

"Bullshit."

"Okay, fine, I feel bad that she thinks that Logan is a one woman man now. It's depressing, if you think about."

"I don't think about it, and you shouldn't either. You don't need to care."

"But, for reasons I can't explain, I do care and I need to make things better."

"So you remedy his indiscretions by fucking her?"

"You make it sound so crude."

"I may be crude, but that doesn't change anything. Why, Tin Man, did you finally get your heart?" Colin teased.

"Shut up, Scarecrow."

"I think you're getting defensive because you know I'm right. You've never cared before when Logan's numerous girlfriends came whining to us before because they thought that they were the one that was going to change him, and got their hearts broken when he kept sleeping around," Colin informed him. "I also know that while you adore messing with Logan's head, you hate screwing him over, so what gives?"

Finn took out another cigarette as he contemplated Colin's question. He did have a point. He was bringing up things that Finn didn't want to think about. And now he was being forced to confront them so he could give Colin a better answer than "I just do." Sure, there were plenty of things that he really did not like about her (her voice included; man, did that voice grate on his last nerve), but he had to give her kudos for that yacht stunt, even if she did have community service for it.

So why the infatuation, the fascination? If Colin was picking up on it, it wouldn't be long before everyone else did, and who knew that kind of shit that could bring? It couldn't be her intellect – her voice ruled out finding out if she even had any, though the whole listening to Mitchum Huntzberger thing pointed to 'no.' It couldn't be her personality – she was far too insecure for his tastes. Colin was beginning to question his choices, and he knew something was wrong. A mental red flag went up: things were not going well.

The day after his heart-to-heart with Colin, of which he never gave a satisfactory answer to, he broke it off with Rory. A weight lifted off his shoulders, and he was sure one was off hers also. She could stop feeling guilty and he could stop having other feelings than drunk and horny. It was a win-win situation.

She got a dose of reality when she walked in on Logan having sex with another girl. Finn felt good as he realized that meant she was finally stepping into the real world. He tried talking to her about the incident, but in between the sobs, the feelings, and that goddamn voice, it did no good. She was heartbroken and had only one friend to talk to about it. The last he heard of her she was working as a stupid secretary.

She never did go back to Yale.


End file.
